Hardware specifications of VC nano Z Smart Cameras

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Vision Components GmbH does not take any liability for possible errors.
In the interest of progress, Vision Components GmbH reserves the right
to perform technical changes without further notice.

Please notify support@vision-components.com if you become aware of any
errors in this manual or if a certain topic requires more detailed
documentation.

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permission by Vision Components GmbH.

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Meaning

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The VC nano Z Series Smart Cameras have been designed for high
resolution image processing with a very small form factor. They are the
ideal compromise between high performance and low system costs, and thus
especially suited for high volume OEM applications. This makes them
viable to use a smart camera in even more products than before.

Based on a dual-core processor ARM® Cortex®-A9 with 866 MHz and an
integrated FPGA the models of the new VC Z series offer solutions at
extreme high-speed in real-time.

The operating system VC Linux provides for the ideal interaction of
hard- and software.

All cameras are equipped with a battery backed real time clock and come
with 2 inputs and 4 outputs, with trigger input and flash trigger
output, as well as an Ethernet interface. 5 different CMOS sensors (the
image resolution can be changed to the ROI required) with global shutter
and a resolution up to 4.2 Megapixel are available with all models.

The extremely low power consumption of only 1.7W makes this camera
ideally suitable for use in mobile devices.

118.75 MHz / 10 bit, only the 8 most significant bits used for grey values

Input LUT

yes

Image Display

Via 100 Mbit Ethernet onto PC

Processor

Dual-Core ARM® Cortex®-A9 with 866MHz and integrated FPGA

RAM

512 MB DDR-SDRAM

Flash EPROM

16 GB flash memory (nonvolatile)

Process interface

2 inputs / 4 outputs, outputs 4x400 mA

Trigger

1 picture trigger input, 1 flash trigger output, 24V

Ethernet interface

100 Mbit

Serial interface

Not available

CE certification

CE Certification from Vision Components

Storage Conditions

Temperature: -20 to +60 deg C, Max. humidity: 90%, non condensing.

Operating Conditions

Temperature: 0 to +50 deg C, Max. humidity: 80%, non condensing.

Power Supply

12-24V DC, max. 300 mA

Power Consumption

approx. 2.4W

The following diagram shows the maximum reachable (with the shortest
shutter time) framerate according to the number of captured lines for
the VC nano Z 0010, the VC nano Z 0011, the VC nano Z 0015 and the VC nano Z 0252:

Frames per second over number of lines

The following table gives some example values.

Example Framerates

VC nano Z 0010

VC nano Z 0011

VC nano Z 0015

VC nano Z 0252

Resolution

Max. framerate (FPS)

Resolution

Max. framerate (FPS)

Resolution

Max. framerate (FPS)

Resolution

Max. framerate (FPS)

2048 x 1536

88

1600 x 1200

55

1280 x 1024

63

1600 x 1024

63

2048 x 1024

134

1280 x 768

83

1600 x 768

84

2048 x 768

177

1280 x 640

98

1600 x 640

101

2048 x 640

210

752 x 480

134

1280 x 512

121

1600 x 512

125

2048 x 512

260

752 x 384

167

1280 x 384

158

1600 x 384

164

2048 x 384

338

752 x 256

246

1280 x 256

228

1600 x 256

240

2048 x 256

485

752 x 192

323

1280 x 192

292

1600 x 192

312

2048 x 192

619

752 x 128

470

1280 x 128

406

1600 x 128

447

2048 x 128

856

752 x 64

861

1280 x 64

669

1600 x 64

788

2048 x 64

1382

752 x 32

1473

1280 x 32

986

1600 x 32

1272

2048 x 32

1903

752 x 16

2288

1280 x 16

1295

1600 x 16

1836

2048 x 16

2340

752 x 8

3158

1280 x 8

1535

1600 x 8

2359

2048 x 8

2598

752 x 4

3901

1280 x 4

1691

1600 x 4

2765

2048 x 4

2797

752 x 2

4422

1280 x 2

1783

1600 x 2

3015

2048 x 2

N/A

752 x 1

4925

1280 x 1

1832

1600 x 1

3238

2048 x 1

N/A

Note

The measurements were done without any other CPU load. Parallel image processing tasks may lead to a lower framerate.

This connector includes the camera Power Supply, the digital PLC IOs and
the trigger interface.

3.2.1 Pin assignments Power Supply and IO Interface

Power Supply/IO Interface Pin Assignment

Camera Socket

Pin

Signal

Cable Colors

1

12-24V PLC

red

2

12-24V IN Cam

red / blue

3

GND IN com.

black.

4

INP 1

pink

5

OUT 3

yellow

6

OUT 2

green

7

OUT 1

brown

8

OUT 0

white

9

12-24V PLC

grey / pink

10

TrigOut

purple

11

TrigIn

blue

12

INP 0

grey

3.2.2 Electrical specifications Camera Power Supply

Warning

With the VC nano Z Series cameras the PLC supply contacts are
internally connected with the camera power supply pin 2. In this case
pin 1 and 9 require the same voltage level as the camera power supply
pin 2. Refer to section 4.2.3 for details on the different PLC interface
features.

Voltage/Current Overview

What

How much

Nominal Voltage

12 – 24 V

Absolute Voltage Limits

9 V - 30 V

Minimum nominal Operating voltage and corresponding current

12V, 160 mA

Maximum nominal Operating voltage and corresponding current

24V, 90 mA

Nominal Power Consumption

2.2W

In general the camera power supply is regulated in the camera, so an
unregulated power source is sufficient. However the absolute voltage
levels specified above should never be exceeded.

In case of unstable power supply (voltage spikes or power interruptions)
it is recommended to back up the power supply by a capacitor or a
battery large enough to prevent power interruptions.

It is recommended to switch on the low voltage supply (12 to 24V) when
booting the camera. Some 110/ 220V power supplies increase the output
voltage too slow or drop the voltage under load at startup which
might cause the camera not to boot properly! A power supply able to
supply a much higher than nominal boot current for a few milliseconds
may be an alternative approach.

3.2.3 Electrical Specifications digital PLC IO / trigger Interface

Note

Activation of trigger output is done by assigning the right GPIO via the command line tool named vcio, see GPIOs and Trigger Assignment for more information.

The VC nano Z Series Smart Cameras feature digital inputs and outputs
that allow e.g. direct input of light barriers signals or the control of
pneumatic valves, as well as a trigger input and output.

Please observe the current and voltage ratings specified in the
following sections.

Electrical Specifications

Separation of PLC/trigger output voltage

PLC outputs supply not separated from power supply

PLC/trigger Input Voltage

Identical with power supply voltage

PLC/trigger Input Current (max)

1.0 mA at 12V to 2.0mA @ 24V

PLC/trigger Output Voltage

Identical with power supply Voltage — internally connected

PLC/trigger Output Current (max)

4 x 400 mA
Max total of all outputs: 1A

Max Current for 1 Power / PLC connector pin

500 mA

Power failure detection

—

Warning

When using the PLC/trigger outputs connect all camera supply
and PLC supply pins (pin 1, pin 2 and pin 9) in order to limit the
connector pin current.

They can be accessed over the linux standard way via /sys/class/gpio, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/gpio/sysfs.txt.
The GPIO numbers are relative to the start number of the gpiochip labelled with '/amba@0/axi-gpio0@41200000',
here: /sys/class/gpio/gpiochip224.

To choose the sensor input/output trigger signals, the corresponding GPIO Nr. must be determined
and assigned by the supporting program named vcio. More information can be found at the help of the program,
if you run it with no command line parameter, it will show how to do it.
Sample usage instructions are provided here, but always refer to the instructions of your version:

Bitfield of GPIOs which are coupled with sensor trigger output signal.
The bit of GPIO Nr. X is coupled, if Bit X is set to 1, for example,
For coupling GPIO Nr. 0, 3 and 31 (TrigOut) provide the Bitfield
as Decimal Value: 2^0+2^3+2^31=2147483657, as Hex Value: 0x80000009,
or as Binary Value: 0b10000000000000000000000000001001.

-d

The direction of the GPIOs as bitfield (see -o switch);
If the GPIO Nr. X should be configured as output, set bit X to 1,
and if it should be an input, set bit X to 0.

-t

Time used to debounce all input sources, default value: 10000.
Time Unit is in FPGA Cycles. The FPGA clock frequency can be acquired
by reading out the value of capt->sen->d.fpgaClkHz, e.g. 153846161 Hz.
The default debouncing time for that example is then given by
10000 cycles / 153846161 Hz = 0.000065 s = 65 us.

Settings done cannot be read out.
Different camera models may have different vcio parameters.

Example

If an additional flash device is connected to Pin OUT 1,
the 'Connector Assignment of GPIOs' table shows the corresponding GPIO Nr.: 1.
To link the gpio Nr. 1 to the sensor trigger signal, the 'vcio' program must make the gpio Nr. 1 an
output gpio (-d) and couple it to the sensor trigger signal (-o), for example,
the following call uses the TrigOut pin (gpio Nr. 31) and the OUT 1 pin
(gpio Nr. 1) for simultaneous flash output, the external input trigger is coming
from gpio Nr. 10, which is, by table, the hardware pin of INP 0:

vcio -d 0b10000000000000000000000000000010 -o 0x80000002 -i 10

One can further switch flash outputs for each capture (see the libvclinux documentation:
VCFlashSelector); therefore the corresponding gpios must be set as output (-d), but
they should not be coupled with the trigger signal (-o), since this given value would be
ORed with the flash selector settings, and the flash would always trigger.

Note

To actually use the trigger input source (assigned by the vcio program)
you have to select it at your source code in your image capture struct
by setting the capture trigger input source to TRGSRC_EXT
(instead of TRGSRC_IMM for immediate trigger);
refer to the libvclinux image acquisition documentation!
You may also invert the trigger signal first, see Output Trigger Signal Inversion

Default Trigger Assignment

GPIO Nr.

Pin Designator

Assignment

31(Out)

TrigOut

Trigger Output

31(In )

TrigIn

Trigger Input

4.2.1 Output Trigger Signal Inversion

One can invert the value of the trigger output signal by writing a 1 onto the
corresponding GPIO nr, for example via the program 'vcgpio'.
To get usage instruction for the program vcgpio run it without any parameters.
The figure shows how it is applied.

The image is formed by a 1.3 megapixel CMOS sensor (VC nano Z 0011). The
image is then stored in the DDR3-SDRAM memory, which has been increased
to 512 MB.

The VC nano Z Series cameras do not have a direct video output. However
if monitoring of the camera image is required, this can be done by
transferring via Fast Ethernet port to PC and display on screen.